Something Ever After
by icy roses
Summary: ON HOLD: Three years later and three years wiser, Rei finds that she has made the biggest mistake of her life and scrambles to fix it. But as she comes to see, it's not that easy. She must create her own ever after, for better or worse.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The sky was just beginning to show edges of gray when Rei bolted up from bed shaking. She touched her face tentatively. It was wet. "Not again," she groaned and fell backwards into her pillow. The clock on her nightstand had block red numbers reading, "5:07 AM." She pulled the blankets back over her head and tried to smother The Dream that had been recurring recently, probably a few times a week. _Ugh,_ she thought, taking deep, calming breaths and settling back into her soft bed. _Go to sleep,_ she told herself sternly. She lay there motionless for a few minutes.

Huffing in frustration, she threw aside the covers more violently than she intended to and stomped to the bathroom for a drink of water. It was impossible to fall asleep after these episodes without considerable meditation. The memory of narrowed golden eyes and magenta stripes haunted her, refusing to let her return to the realm of sleep. When she woke up, she could never recall specifics, only that the dream was clearly about Sesshoumaru and that she would be jerked from dreamland in a state of tears and heartache.

_Damn it._ The origin of her dreams was unquestionable. She had just broken up with her boyfriend, Akira, a few weeks ago. It was a bad breakup, with no chance of reconciliation and definitely no possibility of "Let's be friends." She didn't feel terribly bad about it now. What pissed her off was that The Dream came back every time she lost a boyfriend, like Sesshoumaru was snidely suggesting that she was still stuck on him. "I'm not," she said out loud, and then felt immediately stupid. She was even more furious that Sesshoumaru managed to rudely interfere with her life three years after she had said her final goodbye.

Rei was nineteen now, having just finished her first year of college. It was an acceptable year, distracting and very busy, which was helpful. Now it was summer. Not only was she subjected to these miserable dreams, but she was again in close proximity with her grandmother and the horrible well. She felt that she was holding up decently, however, under the circumstances, proud to note that she still hadn't strayed too close to the dreaded time-portal.

With a sigh, she gulped down the cold water to clear her head and then headed back for her bedroom. To her unhappy discovery, the horizon was faintly pink now, meaning dreaded sunlight was not too far away. She cursed Akira, the well, the sun, and most of all, Sesshoumaru, and concentrated hard on pretending to sleep.

xXx

"Geez, Grandma, slow down, okay?" Rei hurried after her elderly grandmother and put a supporting hand under her elbow as the old woman stepped outside. These days, Kagome was still restless as ever, but her health was deteriorating, and someone had to stay with her at all times to make sure she didn't do anything to hurt herself. Today, it was Rei's turn. It seemed like there were a lot of days this summer that she was stuck watching Kagome. _Well,_ she thought reasonably,_ I am gone most of the year for college, so it's probably fair that I get saddled with the majority of the responsibility for the few months I'm back._

But it wasn't easy. Originally, Rei expected babysitting her grandmother to be an easy job. _How much trouble can she get into? She can barely walk on her own._ She was sorely disappointed. Between juggling her chores, she had to keep a watchful eye on Kagome, whose weakening legs did not agree with her wandering nature.

_The water is still boiling on the stove, _Rei realized nervously as she followed her grandmother to the Goshinboku. Her sleeves were still rolled up, an apron draped around her waist. "Grandma," she reminded her, "Aren't you hungry? Lunch is still in its beginning stages."

"Lunch can wait," Kagome said impatiently, waving a vague hand. "Stay with me for a minute. Barely get to talk to my own granddaughter these days."

_Ah, today's going to be an easy day. She's perfectly normal._ Kagome wavered between clear-headed and normal, and raving and senile. The past few years after Rei's return had been good ones, and Kagome had shown steady signs of improvement. Rei's mother was even beginning to grudgingly get along with the old woman on good days. "Of course, Grandma."

They sat silently under the sacred tree for a short while, enjoying the beautiful weather and comfortable breeze. Kagome spoke up, "How is that boy you are seeing? What's his name? I can't seem to remember. I'm getting old."

"Akira. We broke up," said Rei shortly. A vision of Sesshoumaru, glowing and beautiful, flashed across her mind. Mentally, she stabbed herself a little.

Kagome clucked her tongue. "Pity, pity. He was a nice boy. I liked him."

Something was tugging at Rei. She wanted to say it, but was afraid what her grandmother might say. "Grandma?" she began timidly.

"Yes, dear?"

She fiddled with her thumbs, looking down, wondering if she should just let it go, let the moment pass. "There's…a friend of mine, who was in love with this guy." _I can't believe I'm using this lame "my friend" ruse._ "And then, for one reason or another, she dumped him, and never saw him again." She paused. "And then she felt very sad. She tried to get over it. She met other boys and dated some really great ones. But somehow…" she trailed off. She looked over at Kagome.

Her grandmother's eyes were glazed over. She shook herself and smiled at her granddaughter a little absentmindedly. "What did you say, Reimi?"

Rei closed her eyes and let the doubt slide away. "Forget it. Let's get inside."

xXx

It was almost nighttime when everyone got home. "I'm going to bed," Rei said weakly, wanting nothing more than to forget the day's events in a deep, drugged sleep. Her eyes felt scratchy and sore. She rubbed them.

"Rei?" her mother said softly, "This isn't going to make you feel much better, but at least she's in a better place. She wasn't ever happy here."

Rei didn't turn around. "I know, Mom." She trundled upstairs, hunched over like heavy troubles were on her shoulders. The stairs felt steeper and longer. Her room was the same as before, and it seemed wrong somehow. The universe should be different, but it wasn't. Rei remembered back when she thought Rin had died. The sun shone then too, like nothing had changed. But that wasn't the same thing. Rin hadn't really died.

Kagome was really dead.

She had been cremated, her ashes buried in the ground, in the family plot, next to her own mother and her brother Souta, who had died in a car accident when Rei was just a little girl.

But not next to Grandpa. Nobody knew where he was, if he was still alive, if he had remarried. Some wild hope kindled in Rei's heart that perhaps her unknown grandfather would show up at the funeral, remorseful at last that he had left his own family so many years ago. Of course, no mystery man showed up. It didn't matter that much. Kagome had never loved him anyway. She was barely upset when he left. She didn't love him like she loved…

Kagome wasn't buried next to Inuyasha either. That was the greatest wrong of all. She was dead now, and probably reunited with him, but it still was…a mistake…for her not to be physically reunited with him.

The funeral was small and quiet. _And stupid,_ thought Rei. Surely, nobody knew Kagome like Rei did. All the things said about being a faithful mother, even in illness, a strong survivor even when her husband left her, sounded dumb and pale. Kagome was so much more than that. She was a heroine. She was brave and patient, smart and kind. Once, she was beautiful and happy and lively and funny. Once, she was passionate and in love with someone who loved her back. _Inuyasha wouldn't have left her, even if she lost her mind._

They said she died happy.

_What a lie._ There was no happy ending to Kagome's story. She was a tragedy; her whole life was a tragedy.

Hot tears were filling Rei's eyes again. She couldn't decide if they were tears of anger or tears of sadness. Maybe a bit of both. She sighed, wiped them away, and collapsed on her bed, suddenly exhausted.

Her mother was right. In the end, as terrible as it seemed, perhaps death wasn't so bad for Kagome. Perhaps now she could finally be at peace. It was a quick death. Heart attack, and she was dead in almost an instant. The shrine would be a lonely place without her.

Summer had barely started a few weeks ago. It was the beginning of June. Rei couldn't bear facing three more months of silence, forcing her to think about things she didn't want to, mourning Kagome's death with no distractions to ease her grief.

Rei went to the bathroom, opened the medicine cabinet and pulled out a bottle of sleeping pills. Normally, she wouldn't condone this type of behavior, but right now, she wanted instant sleep, with no dreams. She didn't think she could handle The Dream. Not tonight. She popped a couple of pills into her mouth and chased them down with cold water.

She changed into her pajamas and got into bed. She curled up, pulled the blankets over her head, and let the peaceful darkness claim her.

When she woke up in the morning, her head felt like it was full of lead. _Sleeping pills are never a good idea, kids._ Somehow, she managed to lift her head from the pillow, get up and get dressed. An urgent matter was pressing. She had woken up with a crazy thought in her head, but this time, she was going to act on it. And she had to do it before she began to have second thoughts. _No time for those. I've been having second thoughts for three years._

She scrambled around the house looking for a sheet of paper. "Ouch, damnit!" she shrieked as she jammed her toe into the side of a coffee table. Ejecting a colorful stream of curses undertone, she hopped around the living room wondering why in her moment of need, there was absolutely no paper to be found anywhere. Right as she was about to chop down the Goshinboku, sacred tree or no, to manufacture paper out of it, she remembered that there were still notebooks in her backpack. She ran to her room, dumped all the contents of the backpack unceremoniously onto her bed, ripped a sheet of notebook paper out, and began scribbling a message in pen.

"Dear Mom and Dad,

I don't know exactly what to say to make you understand what I'm about to do. I'm going back into the well. Back in time. I'm really sorry, but this can't wait until you get back. It's probably better that you're out anyway, otherwise, you'd try to convince me to stay here, and you'd probably succeed.

I didn't tell you the whole truth when I came back last time. I—

This is really hard.

I'm in love. Yeah.

I thought it was just puppy love, impossible, a fling, whatever, you know? But it's been three years, and I'm still in love. A lot in love.

Remember when I told you about the demon that I was with the entire time I was in the past? It's him. I know this is not the ideal guy you would like me to date, or fall in love with for that matter. There isn't anything I can do about that.

When I came back three years ago, I told him it wouldn't work out. His life span is…not exactly compatible with mine. And he doesn't age, which would probably be a problem eventually. There were so many reasons that we just could not, should not be together. I told him. He wasn't as convinced as I was, but he let me go. I thought I could just forget about it, and that would be that.

It wasn't that easy. Mom, I'm still in love with him. I realized when Grandma died, that she was miserable because she lost the man she loved. There wasn't anything she could do about it. I lost the person I loved too. But I can do something about it, so I'm not going to sit here and grow old and bitter. I can't.

This sounds so ridiculous on paper. Please burn it after you're done reading it.

I have to go back. If he's found someone else, then fine. I can live knowing that I tried, at least. I thought I should tip you off, so you don't report my disappearance to the authorities again. I'll be back before school starts, I promise. I have to take care of this. Please trust me. I wish I could write a longer explanation, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you the whole story three years ago, but I need to go before I explode.

You know what's really funny? When I was in the past and things were going wrong, I kept telling myself that everything would be better in the future. That's how I kept myself going through the worst times. But then I did go into the future, and all I wanted to do was dive into the well and return to the past.

Anyway, I love you both so much, and a thousand apologies could not be enough for what I'm doing now.

-Rei."

She put the note in a conspicuous place—the kitchen counter—and rushed out the door. _I can't believe I'm doing this. What if he doesn't even want to see me anymore?_ Her heart started thumping when she crossed the invisible line that marked "too close to the well." The heavy door to the well house creaked when she pushed it open. Inside, it was dustier than she believed possible, and completely unkempt. Apparently, nobody else had bothered to go close to the place either.

Tentatively, she crept toward the well, praying, hoping that it would work still. It looked uncompromisingly gross at the bottom. _Well, hopefully, I won't be touching the bottom, at least, not in this century._ Carefully, she climbed over the edge.

She jumped, and to both her relief and dismay, the blue light caught her, and off she went.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Rei landed off-balance in the past and wobbled slightly before catching herself. It was raining this time, she found as she scrambled out of the well. Standing in the downpour, looking into the forest, she realized that she had absolutely no idea what she was doing. She had no clue where she might find Sesshoumaru, who might be wandering in any number of places all across Japan, and she was getting more and more soaked by the minute.

At the moment, she decided, there was no better place to go than to Kaede's hut, _if_—she thought with trepidation—_Kaede was still around._ Rei fervently hoped she was. At any rate, it was the best she could come up with, and she wasted no time in tramping through the forest toward the village. Luckily, this time she knew where the village was.

Quickly, it became evident that the rain had made the forest floor muddy and extremely difficult and uncomfortable to walk through.

_Ew, there's mud squishing in my shoes._ She shivered. This was not warm spring rain. This was cold rainwater pouring down at a dull, constant rate. It was hard to see, and Rei squinted against the water running down her face. Her hair was drenched, streaming water down her shoulders. She tried to run, but the thick shrubbery impeded her path. There was no choice but to slowly and steadily work her way through the underbrush.

Ten minutes later, she found herself standing at the edge of the trees at the top of the hill, overlooking a sleepy, quiet village. Kaede's village. It looked unchanged for the most part. Perhaps a little bigger, a little more crowded, but still warmly familiar. Rei breathed a sigh of relief, happy that her memory had served her well. She was afraid that after three years, she would get lost.

She rushed haphazardly down the gentle slope and picked her way through the quaint huts until she came upon the one she looked for. She knocked on the old wooden door. Apprehensively, she waited to hear any sort of movement from inside.

Nothing. She knocked again, more anxiously this time. Still, she heard no sound in response. Nobody came to answer the door. Rei's heart sank. _What am I supposed to do now? _she wondered frantically. She looked around, hoping to see someone outside that she could question, but because of the downpour, not a soul wandered the streets.

Either way, she had to get inside, otherwise the exposure to the wet and cold would surely make her come down with a severe case of pneumonia. She noticed a hut slightly larger than Kaede's just to the left that she did not recall seeing last time she was here. _It must've been newly built._ Desperate, she decided to give it a try, having no better options. Hesitantly, she crept up to the door and glancing around nervously as if people were watching her. She knocked.

This time, she heard definite footsteps coming for the door. She couldn't decide whether to be relieved about this or not, before someone opened the door. It was a man with long, unrestrained black hair, a frown twisted on his features. Rei felt like she recognized him somehow, but her brain wasn't working well with her current state of discomfort, and she couldn't place her finger on it.

But Rei could see the cogs turning in the man's head as his face suddenly lit up and he said, "Rei? Is that you? What are you doing out here? It's raining outside, and you're completely wet!" If the face, framed in black hair, didn't trigger her memory, the voice definitely did.

"Inu-inuyasha!" she sputtered in surprise. "You're here!"

He snorted. "Of course I am. I—we—live here." He turned his head and called back nonchalantly, "Kagome! There's an old friend come to visit us!"

A girl Rei's age came to the door, no longer dressed in the scanty school uniform but traditional garb with an apron tied around her waist, her hair tied back smartly. "Rei!" Kagome said delightedly. "Come in, come in!" she gestured with fluttering hands. She slapped Inuyasha's arm reproachfully. "You let her stand in the rain? Look at her!"

Kagome ushered her in, sat her down, and began bustling around like an expert housewife to make her guest welcome. She brought in a set of her own clothes and a towel and pointed the way to the bathroom, and by the time Rei came out fully dressed, had a cup of hot tea waiting.

Rei sat quietly in her chair, sipping tea, trying to wrap her head around this young Kagome, who was still very much alive and happy in the past. It was an odd sensation, knowing that Rei had personally seen the ashes of her grandmother buried. But Kagome was here, smiling cheerfully in the corner, one arm draped casually over Inuyasha's shoulder. His temper seemed to have mellowed out. He was milder now, grinned easily and didn't raise his voice. They both seemed well suited to the peaceful home life.

It was strange. Both Rei and Kagome had aged three years. Rei no longer felt resentful and argumentative toward Inuyasha. Instead, she was civil to him, even friendly, glad to see him. They chatted pleasantly, the three of them, for a few minutes about trivial things. Kaede was simply on some excursion, Kagome explained, attending to a small child who was sick with fever. Yes, Inuyasha had built the house himself, a humble little place, but cozy. They had married soon after Rei left last time and had been living together blissfully ever since. Rei blushed and asked if there were children.

They laughed, but it was a laugh full of contentment and good cheer. "No," said Kagome, "but we hope they will come soon. I want a little boy. And Inuyasha here," she kissed his cheek, "wants a baby girl."

Rei tried to fight off the overwhelming sense of sadness at seeing the two of them so happy together. They fit snugly with each other, easily adopting the role of a married couple, like two puzzle pieces. _This is the way it should be._ But it wouldn't last. It couldn't last, could it? The image of Kagome's gravesite flashed across Rei's mind like a warning. She pushed it off impatiently, drinking in the sight of Kagome's rosy joy. _This is the way it is now,_ she reminded herself.

"You came back," Kagome said, broaching the topic of Rei's sudden appearance at last. "We thought you never would. Is something the matter?"

Somehow, Rei found it impossible to say the real reason she had come back. It seemed too personal, and it seemed like admitting she had been living a lie for three years. "Nothing's the matter," she shrugged, "I missed everyone."

Inuyasha shook his head disbelievingly. "Rei, you disappeared for three years with not a single word to anyone, and now you just show up and say you missed us? I don't even believe that, and I especially don't believe that you missed me," he said with a crooked grin.

Kagome nodded her head sagely and said, "Did you change your mind, dear?" her matronly tone shining through, making Rei feel like a child again. As she sat there, trying to battle with her tongue, deciding or not whether to spill all, Kagome nodded sagely and stood up. "I think I'm going to brew up some more tea, and maybe look for something edible in the kitchen."

Now, it was Rei and Inuyasha sitting in the room, staring at each other awkwardly. "So," Rei ventured, "what's it like being human finally? Gotten used to it yet?"

He chuckled and said, "Almost. I feel like a weakling, and Kagome finds it hilarious. The first time I caught a cold, I panicked and thought I was going to die. But she has a stash of medicine from your time, and it works wonders. Being human is a lot more frustrating that I thought it would be, but I'm getting better at it." His face melted into a scowl. "But Tetsusaiga doesn't work now because I'm not half-demon anymore, and that _is_ inconvenient." He sat back and looked resigned. "It's worth it though. This is all I could have ever wished for."

Rei couldn't help but giggle. It was funny, imagining Inuyasha trying to manage his new human body. But perhaps it was good for him, learning to work through things slowly, no longer having to prove anything.

"And the best part," he said, his expression softening, "is fitting in." He lifted his hands and shrugged with a grin. "I look the same as everyone else."

There was a tapping at the door. "I'll get it," Inuyasha volunteered. The door swung open to reveal a squat, short old woman, looking tired.

"Kaede!"

Kaede peered around Inuyasha, thoroughly surprised. "Child, what are you doing here?" Before she could say anything else, she found Rei's arms around her neck.

"Be careful," Inuyasha warned good-naturedly, "Old woman isn't what she used to be. Don't break her neck."

"What's all the commotion?" Kagome walked in, wiping her hands on her apron. "Oh! Wonderful. Everyone's here. I suppose it wouldn't be too early to start dinner. Want to give me a hand, Kaede?"

xXx

Kagome could really cook a meal. Everyone sat back, satisfied, having eaten their fill. Rei felt like she had never eaten so well in her life. She wondered fleetingly why Kagome didn't cook at home. She had no idea her grandmother even knew how to use a pot or pan, not to mention how to slice vegetables without taking her fingers off.

"So how have your three years back home been?" asked Kagome.

"Er, pretty good. You know, graduated from high school, attending the University of Tokyo."

Kagome smiled. "That's farther than I ever got. Sometimes," she said wistfully, "I wish I could have gone to college. I always thought I would, but…well, situations change."

Kaede cleared her throat. She looked so much different. _Three years can really age a person,_ Rei thought sadly. Her hair was almost all white, and her wrinkles had deepened. Her movements were slower, her speech more restrained. But her eyes still sparkled with as much wisdom and life as ever. She spoke. "Rei, you still haven't told us why you've returned." She fixed her eyes on a cringing Rei skeptically. "You must have some concrete reason. Perhaps we can help."

Rei stared at her lap like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. "It's kind of complicated," she said in a small voice. It was amazing how she was nineteen now, but felt like she was still twelve and getting caught for something stupid. "I just—damn it—I realized that maybe I made a mistake when I went home last time."

"What mistake?" Inuyasha eyed her with confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"I miss Sesshoumaru." Her tongue stumbled in her mouth, and her face flushed crimson.

Everyone fell silent. "You do?" said Kagome, her face painful. "Rei, it's been three years."

"Better late than never, right?"

"Not exactly," said Inuyasha. He ran his hand through his hair and expelled a puff of air. "I was hoping this wasn't the reason you came back."

"I'm sorry, honey," Kagome said, reaching a comforting hand to touch Rei's arm.

_What is going on?_ Rei felt panic rise through her throat thickly like bile. "Why? What happened?"

"Well," said Kagome as she tried to mask her sympathy in a cheering smile, but only succeeded in making it look like she was suffering from a toothache. "We haven't seen him at all since the day you left. He stomped back to Kaede's hut, didn't say a word, collected Rin and took off. That was it. He's never shown up since."

Suddenly, Rei felt extremely foolish.

"But that doesn't mean anything!" Kagome was quick to reassure, "I mean, he never was terribly fond of us. I don't think he would visit us no matter what. No, he's probably just avoiding us, keeping to himself these days."

Everyone around the table was staring intently at Rei, eying her apprehensively. Inuyasha especially looked like a curious mixture of being terrified and sick, clearly afraid that Rei would collapse into tears.

Luckily, she had no intention of doing such. She was angry and mortified at the same time. "But he's still around. Just nowhere to be found at the moment." Pausing, she took a deep, steadying breath. "Do you—do you think he might know that I'm here now? I mean, is it possible that he might…sense my presence?"

"To be honest," said Inuyasha, "it's pretty doubtful. Sesshoumaru has one hell of a nose, but even I don't believe that he can pick you out. And he most likely isn't looking to pick out your scent. Not to mention that humans in general have a bland, undistinguished scent, and the lot of them smell alike. Sorry, Rei. I don't know what to tell you."

The thick quietness in the little kitchen was unbearable, stifling.

"Well, that's that then, I guess!" Rei said brightly, trying desperately not to entirely fall apart. "It was nice seeing you all. I did miss you," she said with a true note of sincerity. "Now I can go back and know that it really is over." Her voice trembled on the last word.

At this, Inuyasha immediately jumped out of his chair. "Ah, uh, it was great seeing you too, I need to go. I do. Seriously." The one thing Inuyasha hated most in the whole world was seeing people cry and being in the unenviable position of having to offer comfort. He practically ran away.

Across the table, Kagome put her face in her hands. "I'm really, really sorry, Rei. If there was any way I can help, I would. Right now, I'm going to look for my cowardly husband, if you don't mind." She rose. "It's late now. We have room. You should stay the night," she added before walking out the room too.

Now, it was just two people in the room. Rei was fighting back tears, and it was another reason for her to be furious. She didn't like to cry; she hated it. What's more, she hated crying over Sesshoumaru, and she was doing it again, only this time, there wasn't even a valid reason for it. Sesshoumaru was gone, and Rei would never be able to find him. _The story was over a long time ago, and I was too stupid to see it. My God, I was stupid. I was thinking like a hopeful, naïve sixteen-year-old, and here I am at nineteen, practically a woman. I shouldn't have let myself do this. I knew it. That one lapse of self-control, and the wounds have opened again._

Finally, Kaede scooted her chair over next to Rei's and put her arms around her. Rei was relieved at last to be able to hide her face in someone's shoulder. After a few moments, Kaede said softly, "Now you see, it is not so easy, is it? To rewind time? To fix a mistake?"

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Rei muttered resentfully.

Kaede laughed. "No. It is supposed to make you wiser. Things will get better, you'll see. I know it is hard now, but one day, you'll go outside and the sun will be shining as wonderfully as ever. You will be surprised to see it, but it is always there. Even when you feel at your lowest."

"But that's just it. What if it never gets better? Last time, I thought it would, and three years didn't make it better. The pain was muted, dormant, but it was always ready to flare up again."

The old woman stroked her hair gently. "Sometimes, it takes longer than three years. But I admire your courage. Nobody can say you didn't try. You came back."

Rei could feel the hot tears soaking into Kaede's shirt. "Yes, and I was an idiot enough to think that things could be the same. That I could start over, and Sesshoumaru would be standing right by the well, waiting to take me back. You know, I always thought he would be in love with me forever. He wasn't. He moved on." She sniffled. "I'm glad. He's smarter than I am."

"Silly girl," said Kaede affectionately. "This is too much for one day. Go to sleep, child. Everything looks better in the morning. I promise."

xXx

The morning dawned gray and cloudy, and when Rei woke up, things did not look better. In fact, things looked a lot worse. She had rushed from the future leaving no logical explanation except a love-struck note scrawled hastily on a sheet of torn-out notebook paper. Then she as good as dove head first into the past, trekked at least twenty minutes in the muddy rain, imposed herself thoughtlessly into Kagome and Inuyasha's home, discovered that her entire plan was moot since her ex-flame was now tangibly more "ex" than "flame," and then cried herself out and passed out on the couch. And to top it all off, the new day had greeted her with the news that she definitely had a cold. She felt justified in putting yesterday on the top of her list of "Worst Days of My Life."

As such, she had absolutely no desire to eat breakfast. There were two kinds of people in the world. The first included people who tended to "eat their feelings" and binge whenever depression hit them. The second was people who had distinct sensations of nausea at the thought of eating when unhappy, and Rei placed herself solidly in that group. Plus, misery sucked the life out of her, making eating seem like an endeavor that took too much energy.

Rei made a conscious decision to avoid everyone for as long as possible. When she had gotten control of her raging, unstable emotions, she would say goodbye and go back home. For good.

She put on a set of clothes that Kagome had generously left out for her, she grabbed one of the swords hanging on the wall—she felt incredibly guilty about this, but even she was careful enough to know that it was foolhardy to wander about in the wilderness without some form of protection from bandits and demons—crept out of the house and escaped into the woods. The sky was a dull slate gray, but it showed no indications of rain today, for which Rei was grateful. This meant she could stay out for a while, clearing her mind.

She sat down and leaned against the trunk of a stately oak tree. It was peaceful. The clamor of the village in the mornings gave her a headache. Rei closed her eyes.

There was a rustle from a thick tangle of undergrowth nearby.

Her eyes snapped open, her adrenaline flooding through her veins. She stood up and unsheathed the sword, glad that she had thought to bring it with her.

The disturbance grew louder, and she could hear a disgruntled voice floating out from the bushes. It was definitely coming toward her.

--

A/N: You guys are fantastical, splendiforous, and altogether too good to be true. I was both surprised and ecstatic to see so many people show such interest in both "Fairytale" and this. When I get a review, it makes me want to get on Microsoft Word and write my heart out. Which is what I do, thus explaining why it is 3:00 in the morning but I feel utterly thrilled to have sacrificed sleep for the sake of the story. On a worse note, I've been having a minor flame problem lately, but I expect it to stay just the way it is: minor. Constructive criticism I love, but insults that aren't spelled correctly and don't make sense...not so much. None of this is obviously any of my loyal readers' fault, just some random creeps who stumble on by and maliciously leave comments because they have no self-esteem, and clearly no life. But I won't let a few stupid people get in the way of my appreciation for the whole. For everyone that has ever read or ever taken their time to write a review: You make this story happen. This chapter is dedicated to you all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

All the things that Rei might have envisioned to pop out from the gnarled underbrush did not even come close to the creature that actually emerged.

It was a small creature, scrawny, its height reaching only Rei's knees. It was dressed in sharp, stately robes, but they were muted, a dull brown. In its hand, it carried a tall staff, taller than the thing itself. Rei noticed that perched at the top of the staff was two shriveled up heads. She cringed at the sight of it.

There was one more thing. The little demon was green.

It seemed to take no notice of Rei. It was huddled over, muttering angrily over something. Somehow, this tiny green demon failed to inspire fear, and Rei slowly lowered her sword and stared. Just before the thing ran into her legs, it looked up and let out a strangled exclamation.

"A human!"

Its voice was shrill. It had bulbous yellow eyes that, at the moment, were practically bulging out of their sockets. It started waving its staff around impatiently. "Out of the way, out of the way, I tell you." Under its breath, it said, "I don't have time for things like this, don't have time to deal with humans. They only get underfoot."

Rei cleared her throat tentatively. "Excuse me, er, sir?" She felt that politeness would be the way to go, although it was incredibly hard to take this pompous, hot-headed little demon seriously. "What are you doing here?" _As unlikely as it is that this thing is dangerous, it might be better to know anyway, in case it plans on attacking the village._ She assessed it. _Well…probably not._

The thing puffed up indignantly and said loudly, "I am not obligated to answer any of your questions, you silly, nosy human. Step out of the way."

She didn't move. The creature, who was looked incredibly crabby, shot a tongue of flame at her out of one of the human heads on the staff.

"Holy crap!" Rei saw the flash of fire flying at her and managed to leap out of the way before being seared to a crisp. She breathed out shakily. "Are you crazy?! You could've killed me!" She brandished her sword at him and made a swipe.

He jumped aside nimbly and shot fire at her again. "I don't have _time_ for this!"

Rei's old reflexes were coming back to her, and she was much faster than Jaken. She swept around behind him and smacked him in the head with the flat of her sword. She didn't want to kill him.

"Ouch!" he squealed. "You hit me!"

"Yeah? Well, you almost fried me!" she retorted.

He was rubbing his small green head and muttering angrily, "The worst luck. The worst! Instead of getting the supervision job, I get sent out for this degrading, humiliating task. Why, Lord Sesshoumaru? What have I done wrong?"

She was just about to curse him before the name caught her unawares. "Wait, what?" _That_ got her attention. "Lord Sesshoumaru? Are you his servant or something?"

Everything shifted for a moment, and she felt off balance. Unreal. And then a strong surge of optimism. Everything looked brighter. _Sesshoumaru is alive. Maybe he's waiting for me,_ she thought rather nonsensically. She had a mental image of Sesshoumaru standing just beyond the cluster of trees, in the clearing. He was staring, his eyes the same beautiful shade of gold, his mouth in an impatient twist. She could imagine that cheesy "running toward your true love on the beach" music playing in the background as she ran toward him, tears streaming. He would open his arms and then…

And then she snapped herself out of it. She thought she had outgrown this whole daydreaming state when she went to college.

Meanwhile, it seemed pleased that Rei had heard of his all-mighty master. "Why, yes, I am. My name is Jaken, and I am his most loyal, trusted servant sent to do his bidding. Which," he said as he cocked an eyebrow, "is secret. Shoo."

But Rei was not done. She regarded the creature with curiosity and hesitation. "What…are you?" She felt awkward saying it, like she was insulting Jaken's dignity.

He sputtered furiously. "I am a respectable toad demon. Can't you see?! Ah, I've already wasted far too much time conversing with you. Move now. Before I move you myself." He flashed his staff threateningly.

Rei tried not to lose her temper. The sixteen-year-old her would have done just that, but she'd like to have thought that her current self had more self-control. _And,_ she reminded herself, _I'm relying on what's-his-face to lead me to him._ She tried not to think his name and get her hopes up. _Sesshoumaru._ "Yeah," she said. "I can't really move aside because actually, I've been looking for you."

That stopped him in his tracks. "Looking for me?" he said, with his head tilted to the side in a way that wanted to make Rei laugh.

She cleared her throat to prevent the giggles and tried to sound serious and not entirely ecstatic. "Yeah. I need to see your master—Lord Sesshoumaru is it?—on some, er, business. Yes." She figured it was probably not a good idea to explore their strange past relationship, whatever it was.

"You? Business?" Jaken looked her up and down, and Rei had the distinct feeling that he was regarding her in the same manner that he might a homeless person. "Lord Sesshoumaru has no business with humans." He crossed his arms and tightened his grip on the staff with two heads.

"What's that thing?" Rei asked, momentarily sidetracked. "That stick with…dried human heads on it."

Jaken stood up straighter. "This," he gestured proudly, "is the Staff of Two Heads. It is quite powerful. I am honored to carry it on behalf of the Lord Sesshoumaru."

_Gee, this guy has kind of a man crush. And obviously is kind of terrible at names._ "I see. But in any case, I have a very important matter to discuss with ah, Lord Sesshoumaru"—his name sounded strange with the title—"and if you please, I would appreciate it if you could take me to him." She coughed. "Sir. Please," she amended.

He shook his head emphatically. "Definitely not. Lord Sesshoumaru has too much of a reputation to fraternize with humans."

"Really?" Rei responded politely. "I seem to remember that he was the guardian of a little girl. What was her name? Rin. Yes, that was it. Whatever happened to her?"

Jaken almost choked. "How do you know about Rin? I mean—Lord Sesshoumaru isn't the best at keeping her a secret but—how do you know?"

Inside, Rei grinned. Sesshoumaru was such a hypocrite about humans. Condescending and snobbish, it was almost as if he was insecure in his daiyoukai-ness. After all, he "fraternized" with humans all the time. "You see," Rei said carefully, "I know Lord Sesshoumaru very well. So I assure you, I'm not lying when I say that I have to see him on a confidential matter, and it's urgent. He will be happy to see me." _I hope._

"Funny he never mentioned anything to me."

"Yes, well, I'm sure he'll be pleased to know that you almost killed me before you properly found out who I was. You'll be lucky if he doesn't turn that staff back on you," she said airily.

Jaken grumbled uncomfortably. "What is your name, then?"

"Rei Nakamura."

"Not familiar."

"Maybe I'm just too important for Sesshoumaru to mention me to someone like you." She smiled. She was enjoying this.

Jaken was at a loss for words and his facial expression showed total horror. "Never. I am Lord Sesshoumaru's most loyal servant! Impossible! The suggestion…why…you…humans!" His face was getting redder and redder, and he was starting to look like an oddly colored, rather ugly Christmas ornament. That was alive.

"Okay, well," Rei said, glancing up at the sky. She was tiring of Jaken's excitable episodes. But maybe this would turn out in her favor. He was proving to be a rather gullible demon. She swallowed back a giggle. Trying to control her face, she drew her expression down as solemnly as she could and said with gravity, "I need you to take me to Lord Sesshoumaru. Immediately. This is urgent."

"As his retainer, I have every right to know who you are."

Rei wisely decided this was the time for a little truth stretching. "I," she began with all the pompousness she could muster, "am a powerful miko. I am related to Kagome." _Part of it is true_.

"You're related to Kagome? What luck! You, then, must be aware of Kagome's…condition?" He looked extremely embarrassed.

"Condition? She's in perfect health. I have been visiting her."

"What I mean is…Lord Sesshoumaru is…vaguely curious…I mean…it's his right as the Lord of the Western Lands to know if he may be…receiving new arrivals." His speech was disjointed and almost inaudible.

"Huh? I have no idea what you are talking about."

Jaken stomped his little foot. "I am _saying_, Lord Sesshoumaru wants to know if Kagome is pregnant!"

"Oh." _Awkward._ "I don't believe it's any of Sesshoumaru's business, since he is so concentrated on severing any connections with those certain members of his family, but if you must know, yes. Yes she is." _Ha, I bet he'll feel absolutely fantastic knowing that there are more mongrels in his family. Serves him right._

Jaken sighed with relief. "That's all figured out then, I can report back." He started to hobble away, before Rei stopped him.

"Hey! I thought you were going to take me to him. I have business. Remember?"

He growled uncharitably. "Oh, very well. Come along then."

"Come along then, _Lady Rei._" She grinned mischievously. _Let's just see how far we can take this thing, shall we?_

"Why should I have to call you Lady?" he protested.

"Because I am just that important. You'll regret it when we get there, if I inform him that I was not treated in accordance to my stature. So?"

"Lady," he muttered.

xXx

There was not much walking to do after all, because Jaken was used to luxury travel.

"You thought we would walk the whole way?" he snorted. "That would take weeks and weeks. He lives quite far. But I guess you must never have been to his grand abode."

"He has a house?" Rei asked, slightly dumbfounded.

"And hundreds of servants," he amended. "Don't be ridiculous. Of course Lord Sesshoumaru has a house. He is a daiyoukai, the Lord of the West. He is used to the very best."

"I'm starting to think he's morphed into some kind of tyrant-king," Rei said, not amused. "He used to travel a lot, as I remember. I just thought he was nomadic."

Jaken chuckled unkindly. "He has not morphed into anything. He is what he is. And he has always had his palace. Once he defeated Naraku, he could finally settle back into his normal life. That is, ruling over the lowly creatures."

"You have great respect for others of your kind, I see," Rei said, dripping sarcasm from her words.

"Thank you," he responded crisply. "Ah, here we are," he gestured. And sure enough, there was a two-headed dragon tied to a tree.

She couldn't believe it. "Ah Un?" The dragon smiled amicably. Or at least, it seemed like it.

"How do you know Ah Un?"

"Erm, I've seen him…them…around. So we're riding?" _I'm riding a dragon. Fabulous. This'll make a great story. Remember that one time, when I rode a dragon?_

"Yes. Into the sky," he said simply.

Rei gulped and felt her stomach drop preemptively. "You mean we're flying? But I hate flying."

_That's not exactly true, _an obnoxiously on-cue voice pointed out. _There was that time._ Indeed. There was a time, and Rei could remember the rain coming on, big cold splatters. It was a thoroughly uncomfortable experience, as if feeling the nausea wander around her insides wasn't bad enough, the sky had to dump rain on her too. But then, suddenly, it became incredibly comfortable, although that might have a little to do with the fact that Sesshoumaru was holding her…

"I haven't had good experiences with flying," she said.

"I'm sorry, but this is the only way to go."

Rei sighed deeply. "I can handle it." _I'm a big girl._

Hesitantly, she approached the animal. Or demon. Or whatever it was classified as. It seemed calm. She pet its back reassuringly before engaging in probably the most ungraceful mounting. She scrambled onto it, and then straightened her shirt carefully, as if trying to reassert her dignity. Jaken leapt on behind her. "Hold on tight," he warned, before Ah Un galloped into the sky.

Rei found herself clutching Ah Un's neck for dear life. "Loosen up, Lady," Jaken coached derisively.

"Shut up!" she said fiercely, before a wave of nausea overwhelmed her. She tried to recall flying with Sesshoumaru, and how he temporarily cured her airsickness, but it wasn't helping. It was coming. It was inevitable.

"That's disgusting," Jaken commented after it was over. "Your vomit is now all over some poor, unsuspecting peasant village."

"Oh, shove it. You don't know how horrible I feel. I can't help sharing some of my misery with everybody else. And you don't even like humans. I bet you do this just for the hell of it, just so you can get the evil glee of watching them suffer down below."

Jaken smirked, an expression remarkably like Sesshoumaru's.

"Well," Rei said, "at least I've emptied my stomach. That'll be the end of it. Ugh."

"So you think," said Jaken. "We still have a while to go yet."

xXx

It was hours later that they arrived. The sun was setting, turning the sky a beautiful orangish hue. Rei almost fell off Ah Un. "Ah," she moaned, "my butt's asleep. Everything below my waist is asleep." Her throat still burned uncomfortably from the stomach acids, and she had an acrid taste in her mouth. She'd tried to spit it out, not without further jeering from Jaken, but she had long since ceased to care about some unfortunate farmer being hit with a glob of spit.

She desperately needed a glass of water. The state of her stomach still felt fragile. She wanted a bowl of hot chicken broth with lots of garlic.

But she was distracted from her aches and pains by the sight of Sesshoumaru's estate. It was…

Stunning. It suited him. The estate was gated, wrought iron fencing in elegant, lithe designs. The fence would not keep out any intruders, demons who could render it into black dust in seconds. It must have been for aesthetic purposes. She never imagined Sesshoumaru to be so artistic in his tastes. In context of the times though, there were guards standing, uniformed at the entrance. They had the Prussian blue crescents on their shoulders. There were a variety of demons. She couldn't tell. She thought one might have been a bear. Another, perhaps a hawk?

She felt intimidated, not only by the guards, but also by the grandeur of the palace in the background. And it was a palace. It had the sloping, curving roof of traditional Asian architecture, painted green and edged in plated gold that gleamed in the fading sunlight. The wooden columns that supported the entire massive structure were painted brilliant red. There was a wraparound porch with low red railings. It looked like a portion of the Forbidden Palace in China (Rei's family had visited when she was a child).

"Welcome, to the home of the most honorable Lord Sesshoumaru," Jaken said smugly, watching the wonder bloom in his guest's eyes. She was hardly aware of Jaken's motion to open the gates, as one of the guards—in a ridiculously intricate headdress—acquiesced the command.

The pathway leading up to the house was marble, edged in a brilliant border of flowers. Truly, the entire courtyard was a piece of artwork, carefully maintained. The positions of flowering shrubbery and fruit trees were clearly heavily debated and had a significant place on the meticulous lawn. Rei was really stepping into a fairy tale. She felt so out of place, like she was an urchin walking into Versailles.

There was no front door. It was just an elaborately carved wooden doorway. Sesshoumaru feared no intruders. There was a long stretch of hall, doorways on each side providing glimpses for well-furnished rooms. But apparently, this is not where Sesshoumaru was at the moment. A timid looking maid—mouse demon?—pointed back when Jaken questioned her.

They walked to the very end, and to Rei's surprise, they walked out the back doorway, and there was another complex in the back. But in the space between the front house and the back house was a lake, filled with goldfish and lotus blossoms. Willow trees grew in the water, their graceful strands of leaves dipping into the water in places. A beautiful arched bridge stretched the distance. At this point, Rei was considering the theory that Sesshoumaru actually lived in Heaven, because if this wasn't it, then Heaven must have been modeled after Sesshoumaru's backyard.

"Can he really live here?" she wondered out loud.

"Oh yes he can. And he does," said Jaken.

The two of them, Jaken leading the way, walked into the back house. This house differed from the first house. There was a large open area in the middle that opened up to sky, and the rooms were situated around. There were two levels. Jaken took her into a room on the first level; it opened into a surprisingly wide and expansive room. This room, like the rest of the palace, was tastefully decorated, but mostly empty. There was a large, throne-like chair in the very back.

And that's exactly when Rei heard her heart double its pace. Sesshoumaru was standing up, but he hadn't looked at them. He had a very frustrated look on his face. A gloriously, meltingly beautiful frustrated look. He was dressed in a simple white kimono. And otherwise, he looked exactly the same, just like the day he did when she left him.

She couldn't help whispering his name. He heard her. His head turned and his eyes connected with hers, and she could see the jolt of shock flash across the gold. "Rei?"

She felt extremely dysfunctional in being unable to respond. Embarrassed, she blushed, and then noticed the other person in the room. She was definitely a dog demon. She had silver hair, like Sesshoumaru's, a flawless face with a small, pointed chin, and piercing gold eyes, maybe a little darker than Sesshoumaru's. Her clothes were that of a queen, her kimono of the finest design and material, jade beads and pearls liberally draped around her neck. She was perfection. She was royalty. And she opened her dainty lips to speak. "Aren't you going to introduce me, dear?" Her voice did not disappoint her appearance. It had a lilting, girlish quality, high-pitched, and clear as a bell. "I declare," she continued, "your continued dealings with humans do make me uncomfortable. It's getting to be an extraordinarily unfortunate habit." She touched his arm gently as she said it.

And the world fell away.

--

A/N: Nothing I can say will be an adequate apology, but I apologize profusely anyway. I kept you faithful readers waiting far too long. College is no walk in the park! But I did it. 4 AM, but I did it. I hope you aren't too furious with me. No guarantees about the next chapter, but all I can do is try. I am amazed by the amount of interest in this story. But that's good, because it makes me guilted and pressured into finishing it. I will try my best not to disappoint. You guys are wonderful, and your reviews make my day every time.

Much love,

the overworked author.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Happy New Years, everybody! My present for 2009. I'm going to stop apologizing for taking so long, because I clearly have an issue with getting things done on time, and the chapters are just going to have to be slow. My thoughts are jumbled and unorganized and it takes a while to get them out in a coherent fashion. Thanks for reading and reviewing, and I love seeing new people alert this story. Makes me feel selfishly accomplished. :-) Have a wonderful break.

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**Chapter 4**

They stood there for a few moments—moments that seemed to last for several days—just staring dumbly at each other. Rei had imagined a joyous reunion, where all the wrongs of the past years would be fixed by this one correction. She kept glancing nervously over at the beautiful female demon who had a little twist of impatience on her flawless mouth. It almost hurt to look at her. She was just too stunning.

Rei was waiting for Sesshoumaru to say something, the demoness was waiting for Sesshoumaru to say something, and so of course, Sesshoumaru's evasive streak won out and he said nothing.

The three of them had since quite forgotten about Jaken's presence, whose little green head kept bobbing back and forth, bouncing between the two parties, observing with a degree of disbelief. He concluded that Lady Rei must truly have been an awesomely important person, since she had rendered even the great Lord Sesshoumaru speechless.

"I'm just going to…go now," said Jaken lamely, before scuttling away.

Every single brain cell was screaming at Rei to _run away, run away_. But that was what she would have done three years ago, the volatile girl who couldn't, wouldn't wait for explanations. Then again, she wasn't quite sure she wanted to hear explanations at this point, and in fact, Sesshoumaru showed no inclinations to provide them anyway. In a small, wandering part of her mind, she remembered that this was the second time she failed to say goodbye before she ran off from the village on a wild goose chase. She reminded herself not to do it a third time, but she was pretty sure at this point that the opportunity would not arise again. She refocused on what was happening in front of her.

"Um?" she said. "Can I have a glass of water?" She was feeling a little dizzy, and tacitly concluded it would not be good for anybody if she keeled over.

Mutely, Sesshoumaru snapped his fingers, and within half a minute, a mouse demon came tottering in, a priceless crystal goblet of water balanced on a tray. Rei picked up the glass gingerly, afraid to break it—_it's probably worth more than my left leg—_and took a cautious sip.

"Well," interrupted the demoness, finally speaking up, "this—" she gestured flippantly at the entire situation, "is wearing on me. Will somebody please tell me what is going on?" Her voice was haughty and annoyed. She said in a low voice to Sesshoumaru, "I am quite tired of entertaining these useless creatures. That child of yours is truly getting underfoot, and she forgets her place all the time. Please tell me this isn't another ward of yours." She casually flicked a glance over at Rei. "She is an urchin. She is dressed like a commoner, and completely unsuited to even be in your presence, much less mine."

_I can hear you still, _Rei thought angrily.

"Don't," said Sesshoumaru to the demoness.

"Then you'll tell me what's going on. Really, your silence confounds me. Who is she? Your illegitimate daughter?" she challenged. She fiddled with the carved jade beads around her neck. "You are such a bother, sometimes."

Sesshoumaru expelled a sigh, and it was such a familiar sound that Rei's eyes watered up unexpectedly. She missed that sound. "Rei," he said tiredly, "what are you doing here?"

The words hit her like a sack of bricks. Against all odds, she somehow found the lump in her throat had dissolved. "Wow. Gee, what a warm welcome. I missed you too!" she snapped. She didn't mean to be so cranky, but really, she had been expecting something a little more…appreciative. She shot an angry glare at the demoness, who she still didn't know. The demoness looked affronted.

"I—" he began, apparently intending on defending himself, before he closed his mouth resolutely and narrowed his eyes. "_You_ were the one who danced through the front door," he said pointedly, clearly implying, _I am not obligated to welcome you at all._

"I see," said Rei, her voice hard. "Immortal life, and you forget people after three years. I'm sorry that I wasted my time coming back here. I'm sorry that I cried—that I kept remembering you—for three years. I can't believe it. I thought that you might at least crack a smile when I showed up. I thought—never mind. I was wrong, obviously."

Sesshoumaru stood still as a statue, not a flicker of mercy on his cold, emotionless face.

She stared at him, willing him to crack, show just a little bit of warmth. She noticed that his left arm had grown back. Painfully, memories rushed back of him teaching her how to use a sword, guiding her with one hand, her anger at Inuyasha for hurting his own brother, her pity, the first time she felt that spark…

"Your arm grew back. That must be nice. Congratulations, I guess."

He didn't smile. The demoness nudged him with her pointy elbow.

Standing there, watching him ignore her, was finally enough incentive for her heart to let go. The desire and hope seeped tiredly from her body, replaced by a lead-like numbness.

"Go home, Rei," he said softly.

She heard it, but it floated around in her brain like fluff, unable to be comprehended in her unfeeling state. She was strangely unaffected by the statement. Vaguely, she was disappointed that she had made such a big fuss to come back, just to hear those two words. She could feel three years of tightness, unhappiness, drain out of her. Suddenly, she was exhausted, but also soothed. "Okay," she heard herself say. "Can I know who that one is over there? The one who thinks I look like an urchin?"

Sesshoumaru hesitated for a minute.

She swallowed and breathed and felt quite normal. "Because honestly," Rei continued in a conversational tone, "I think she is incredibly stuck up. If that's your new woman, then I seriously suggest you rethink your standards in females."

Rei looked toward Sesshoumaru for a response, and to her surprise, he did not seem insulted at all. For the first time, Sesshoumaru looked as if he were about to burst out laughing, but was holding it back.

The demoness looked furious. "Why—how dare you? Sesshoumaru, tell her—are you laughing? Stop it!" She positively looked like she was about to slap him.

Before he could respond, Rei heard somebody stomping into the room behind her. "Lord Sess_hou_maru! I can't handle my tutors anymore! They're all mean to me, for no reason. I need new ones. And I need new clothes too. You haven't let me see the seamstresses for weeks. It's so unfair. Please? Oh, good afternoon, Lady Grandmama."

Rei turned around and saw a thirteen-year-old girl, her skinny arms crossed around her narrow chest staunchly, her eyebrows knitted together angrily, and her nose up in the air. It was Rin.

"Oh, please, for goodness sakes, Sesshoumaru. Make her stop calling me 'Lady Grandmama.' I am not her grandmother. That child is no relation of mine," the demoness whined. "And I'm not that old," she added as an afterthought.

"Rin!" Rei cried out and crushed the thin girl to her. Rin was up to her shoulder now.

"W-what? Rei? Is that you?" the surprised child sputtered.

"Yes! It's me! I've missed you so much! And you've grown up so fast. You were so little when I saw you last." She finally let go and stepped back. "Just look at you."

Rin looked a little jarred and breathless, but had a wide smile on her face, the same bright smile Rei remembered. "I'm so glad you're back," said Rin happily. "You'll make everything right again. Lord Sesshoumaru's been in such a soggy, depressed mood since you've been gone. And then Lady Grandmama came to live with us, and she's such a stiff too. The two of them could cause a thunderstorm by frowning. They just kill my mood every day."

At this point, Sesshoumaru put a hand over his eyes, as if he wished he could just sink into the ground. Without a word, he stalked out of the room. The demoness looked miffed, but elegantly, seated herself and began examining her sharp fingernails. She was clearly not inclined to talk to the two humans left in the room, nor did it seem she even realized it would be a necessary thing to do.

"Come on," muttered Rin, tugging on Rei's hand. The younger girl led her through the corridor and into the back courtyard, up an elegant set of carved wooden steps. There was a wraparound railing on the second floor, with rooms all around. Absentmindedly, Rei trailed her fingers on the lacquered wood of the railing, soothed by its smoothness. Before she knew it, they'd ended up at a door on the corner, nondescript. Rin pushed it open, and Rei was surprised by the expansiveness of the room that revealed itself. It was large and spacious, a big canopied bed in the center. The bedposts were the same dark cherry wood as the rest of the house. The sheets looked like a fine woven silk, pale pink, like a princess's. A filmy, airy material of the same color was draped across the frame, so that it looked like a gossamer mosquito net around the bed.

Rin went over and plopped down on the bed. She looked over expectantly at Rei and patted the spot next to her. "Sit down."

Feeling like a little girl at a sleepover again, Rei jumped onto the bed and crossed her legs carefully. "Well, Rin. Here we are again. Except we're both older, and this is your room, and you live like royalty."

The thin, thirteen-year-old waved her hand impatiently—_even behaving like royalty_, thought Rei—and shook her head. "But what about you? Where have you been? How have you been? Why didn't you say goodbye?"

Rei was a little bemused by this gush of questions. "I've been at home. Five hundred years in the future. You knew that. I'm not from this time. I've been fine. I went to college—got an advanced education," she hastily amended upon noticing Rin's confusion, "just been living my life like a normal person that doesn't time travel. And I did say goodbye. I told Sesshoumaru to tell you I was going. Didn't he?"

"That's not a goodbye. That's secondhand and doesn't count. Plus, you could have come back and visit."

"No, better not. Things are…weird, you see. But I did miss you." She smiled, crestfallen. "But, it's okay. I'm here now, and we can talk."

Rin turned her head away and stared at the wall. "There's nothing to talk about. Everything is perfect. Just like it was. It's beautiful here, isn't it? It's unreal. Like living in paradise. I couldn't ask for anything more."

Sympathetically, Rei put a hand on the younger girl's back and rubbed it. It was getting dark now, she noticed, as she glanced out the window, obscured gently by lacy curtains. She was a little uncertain as to what to do. She kept her hand on the downcast girl and regarded her with pity. _She must be lonely sometimes in this big complex_. Rin slumped into Rei's side and closed her eyes. "Mmm. I missed you, Rei. It was different without you," said Rin, a bit muffled, sleepy.

"Me too." She shifted her weight. "But I have to go home, still."

Rin bolted up, her eyes wide. "Don't."

"I _have_ to."

She shook her head vigorously, and Rei was afraid she might have given herself whiplash. "You can't."

"Look, Rin, I'd love to stay, and it would be wonderful to catch up with you. But I'm not welcome here, and that's the fact. I don't want to offend anybody. What happened back then was in the past, and God knows, I was foolish and tried to tether myself to it. It's okay though. It happened, and it was fine, and now it's time to move on. Oh come on, don't look at me like that. Of course I missed you, and I feel horrible for not really saying goodbye. Situations change though, and it's better if I leave." Rei was impressed. Her words sounded a lot braver out loud than she had trusted them to. She swallowed. Her throat was strangely absent of a lump. That was good though. Just odd to get used to.

Rin's voice was quiet. "You don't know what it was like when you left. Sesshoumaru didn't talk at all for weeks on end. Just silence. I started talking to objects just to fill the empty air with something, anything at all."

"He's always quiet."

"He didn't _talk_, Rei. Not a single word. Not even to me. I asked him where you were, and he didn't tell me until two months later and that was out of the blue. He killed a lot of things, actually. He went hunting all the time. Instead of letting minor demons pass, he slaughtered them as if they were in the way. He couldn't stand demons within a five-mile radius of anywhere we were. He was obsessively rigorous with getting rid of threats. And then we came here. He got better. I had no idea that this place even existed, that he had a house. I guess it would only make sense. So then we lived here. And I had the best of everything. I had the best tutors, and he never let me skimp on my studies. Every day was a new discovery. There was so much here to see. Once, Sesshoumaru asked me if I wanted to go back to a human village. I didn't miss humans. Most of them thought I was strange. I said no. He didn't ask again. Only assigned a legion of servants to me. I was never at a want for companions."

"Sounds like a wonderful place." Rei smiled.

"It was. But Sesshoumaru didn't have companions. He talked to me, and it was like old times. Sometimes, I could even make him laugh. But he was mad. I could tell. He was always mad at you. It was like, for once in his life, he didn't get what he wanted, and he was furious. It came more easily to him than sadness. He didn't want to mope like he did the first couple of weeks. One day, Lady Grandmama came."

"Is 'Lady Grandmama' Sesshoumaru's mother?"

"Oh yes. And she hates it when I call her that, so I do it all the time." She giggled. "I certainly don't hate her. She's…lovable isn't quite the word for it…anyway, I like her. She's funny."

Rei smirked. "She is utterly unlikable. She is just like him. I should have known that she was his mother. What a shocking resemblance. She's beautiful, isn't she?"

"Yes. She's the most beautiful person I've ever seen."

"She called me an urchin."

Rin giggled again. "Yes, well. She's a bit prickly when you first meet her. You just have to get used to her."

"Just another reason for me to go," Rei said, standing up. "She obviously doesn't want me here, and if she tried to kill me—which it looks like she might—Sesshoumaru doesn't seem inclined to prevent her from doing it." She laughed dryly. "Don't want to die yet, and especially not by the hand of Sesshoumaru's mother."

"She wouldn't kill you. She wouldn't raise her hand to kill a fly, don't worry," Rin reassured. "It would be way too beneath her station. She'd probably ask a servant to do it," she mused, with a glimmer of a smile. "At any rate, look outside, it's way too dark out for you to go traveling alone."

She was right. It was nighttime, and even Rei knew better not to wander around at night without protection. Who was to know that she could even handle a sword with any kind of competence anymore. "First thing in the morning," she promised. "I'll go then." She glanced outside at the stars unhappily, knowing she should have gotten on her way earlier. _I don't want to give that stupid bastard the wrong idea._

"Please stay," begged Rin. "Lord Sesshoumaru will come around. He always does. He's just stubborn."

Quietly, Rei said, "Maybe I don't have time for his stubbornness."

"Then stay for me! I'm sick and tired of only having Lady Grandmama around. She's such a bore, and she never talks to me. When I talk to her, she just stares at me like her teacup started talking. She drives Lord Sesshoumaru crazy; I don't know why he lets her stay. She talks to him plenty, either with criticism or gossip, and he hates both. He must really, really love her to put up with it. But you can stay and talk to me. The palace is great, it really is. You'd love it here."

"Rin," she said firmly, putting her hands on the girl's shoulders, "I don't want to be an awkward third wheel."

"You won't be! You're here as my guest, not theirs. Lord Sesshoumaru lets me have whatever I want, and I want you! Please? You don't have to talk to them at all. You can be my companion. I can never have enough companions." She was as confident and imperious as any princess.

It was clear that Rin was desperately starved of attention and wasn't letting her go regardless, so Rei acquiesced and decided to stay. The palace _was_ breathtakingly marvelous, and it might be nice to vacation here. And, as she watched Rin talk excitedly about how much fun they were going to have, Rei realized that Sesshoumaru wasn't being enough of a parent and being too much of a distant guardian. Rin wasn't denied anything. She was just a little bit spoiled and didn't know how to be a child. Rei imagined her childhood probably sucked: too much study and boredom, not enough play. In a sense, Sesshoumaru was right. Rin should have grown up in a human village with human companions, and not in a cold house of demons who didn't know the needs of a human child.

Rin commanded a bedroom to be cleared out, and within minutes, there was a room for Rei. It was lovely apple-green, with matching blankets, pillow covers, and curtains. It was bigger than any bedroom that Rei had ever slept in. She kissed Rin good night and went to take a bath in the adjoining bathroom. Rin had instructed the servants to treat Rei as they would treat herself. The silver tub was already filled with hot water—the perfect temperature. There were matching apple-green towels and all sorts of deliciously scented oils. _This really is heaven_, she concluded, as she soaked in the best bath she had ever taken. The mouse demon servants offered to help her bathe, and she had politely declined. She felt like a queen.

She decided, while drying her hair with a towel on her luxurious bed, that she was happy to stay—at least for a little while. She did miss Rin, and it would be good to spend time with her. And this house, this house was truly a thing of wonders. It would spoil anyone. And Sesshoumaru would not be a problem. It was plain to see that he wasn't going to talk to her, because he was just incredibly mature like that for a demon of however many thousands of years, and frankly, Rei was fine with it. She felt lighter than she had for a long time, like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, or maybe from her heart. She was very ready to close this chapter of the book, and move on. That was the best thing about her return.

She found closure.

Neatly folded on her bed was a soft-as-the-sky nightgown of cream, and she put it on, enjoying the sensation against her skin. She snuggled into the cloud-like bed and closed her eyes contentedly.

She slept soundly and peacefully. For the first time in long while, Rei did not dream of Sesshoumaru.


	5. Note

Dear Readership,

I don't know how to begin this, because it's very hard to say. You should know that I've pushed this off for long enough, and you deserve an explanation. Unfortunately, I am putting this story on hold until further notice. The reason for abrupt halt is that I am currently working on an original fiction that is consuming all of my time. It's tiring to write, and sadly, I just cannot push myself to work on two projects at the same time and make reasonable progress on both.

On occasion, I may come back and spit out a one-shot, but long-term projects are a no. Once I finish my manuscript, I may come back and complete this story. I hope I will. I don't want to leave the story hanging here. On the bright side, this may be as soon as just a few months, which I know you've all waited at least that long for a chapter.

It seems like a very short time, but actually, I've been writing fanfiction for years. I've been with Rei and Sesshoumaru for over two years. This is incredibly hard for me. They're both staring at me very angrily right now. Sesshoumaru looks like he's about to gouge my eyes out. Calm down, buddy, I still love you the same. Always.

I apologize for doing this. Nobody can feel worse about it than me, truly. I've read tons of fanfic authors who have abandoned their WIPs to concentrate on an original fic. It annoyed the crap out of me, and now I'm doing the same thing. A million sorry's.

Lastly, I want to say thank you for reading "Fairytale" and following to "Something Ever After." I am overwhelmed by your patience and enthusiasm. You really are the greatest people in the whole world. If I ever decide not to come back period, you are free to contact me and I will tell you how "Something Ever After" was supposed to end. But I don't think it'll come to that. So this is not goodbye, goodbye. It's more of a see you later.

Love always,

icy roses.

PS If you are curious about my hopefully-novel, this is my writing blog that I recently began to track my progress: http:// fromelysium . blogspot . com (remove the spaces)


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